On board with the Senate farm bill

Despite postponement of a press event today hailing tomorrow's Senate Agriculture Committee's markup of the farm bill and a rival press event touting a reform minded bill, signs are that the farm bill that emerges from the committee should be well received by industry lobbyists.

Based on limited conversations so far, the chairman's mark for the Senate Agriculture Committee's farm bill is finding the support of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance.What follows are some excerpts from a section by section analysis of the chairman's mark that is posted the Senate Agriculture Committee Web site. I was a little puzzled that I didn't find reference to mandatory funding as it relates to the fruit and vegetable program in the section by section analysis: earlier reports put the annual funding at $225 million a year, or about $1 billion over the course of the farm bill.
From Harkin's office:


Sec. 4903
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Current law: Section 18(g) of the Richard B Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g)) establishes the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides free fresh fruits and vegetables to children at school. This section replaces the existing Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at section 18(g) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g) and replaces it with an expanded and modified Fruit and Vegetable Program at section 19 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (7 U.S.C. 1870). Whereas the Fruit and Vegetable Program was previously limited to a limited number of states, the program established by this section would operate in every state in the country. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia would be entitled to a minimum grant of 1 percent of the funds made available to carry out the program in a given fiscal year. Additional funding would be made available to each state based upon the proportion of the population of a state to the population of the United States. States would be responsible for selecting schools to participate in the Program and would be required to ensure that each school chosen to participate in the program is a school in which not less than 50 percent of the students are eligible for free- or reduced-price meals. In addition, a state would be required to give priority to schools with the highest proportion of children who are eligible for free- or reduced-price meals. Finally, USDA is required to ensure that at least 100 schools chosen to participate in the program are schools on Indian reservations. Under this provision, states would retain some flexibility regarding the per-student grant provided under the program provided that the grant would be not less than $50 and not greater than $75 dollars.


PART IV—Specialty Crops Competitiveness
Sec.1841. Specialty crop block grants.
Extends Section 101(a) of the Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act of 2004 to ensure that authorities for specialty crop block grants extend through fiscal year 2012. This program allows states to invest in programs and projects that support production-related research, commodity promotion, product quality enhancement, consumer health, food safety and other programs that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crop producers. This section also amends this authority to ensure that each state’s base funding level is ½ of 1 percent of the total amount of funding made available to carry out this section.
Provides $365,000,000 in mandatory funding.
Sec.1842. Grant program to improve movement of specialty crops.
This provision amends title II of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-465; 118 Stat. 3884) to authorize the Secretary to make grants to State and local governments, grower cooperatives, and producer and shipper organizations to improve the cost-effective movement of specialty crops. The language also establishes matching requirements for grant recipients, and authorizes discretionary funding to carry out the program.
Sec.1843. Healthy Food Enterprise Development Center.
This provision requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish, through a competitive grant process, the Health Enterprise Development Center, the mission of which is to increase access to healthy, affordable foods to underserved communities. The Healthy Food Enterprise Development Center will be required to collect, develop, and provide technical assistance to agricultural producers, food wholesalers and retailers, schools, and other entities regarding best practices for aggregating, storing, processing, and marketing local agricultural products and increasing the availability of such products in underserved communities. The Healthy Food Enterprise Development Center is also provided with the authority to subgrant funds to carry out feasibility studies to carry out the purposes of the Center.
Provides $7,000,000 in mandatory money
PART V—Miscellaneous
Sec.1851. Clean plant network.
This provision directs the Secretary to establish a National Clean Plant Network program. Plant materials such as apples, peaches, grapes, and other fruits which are provided by nurseries to orchards and vineyards, can be particularly vulnerable to viruses. This provision would establish a network of clean plant centers in the United States that would conduct diagnostic and pathogen elimination services to ensure that nurseries can continue to provide safe, virus-free plant materials to orchards, vineyards and other growers.
Provides $20,000,000 in mandatory funding
Sec.1852. Market loss assistance for asparagus producers.
Establishes a program to pay those producers currently growing asparagus for revenue losses during the 2004-2007 crop years due to imports.
Provides $15,000,000 in mandatory funding ($7,500,000 for producers of fresh asparagus and $7,500,000 for producers of processed or frozen asparagus).
Sec.1853. Mushroom promotion, research, and consumer information.
The provision updates section 1925(b)(2) of the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act of 1990 (subtitle B of title XIX of Public Law 101-624; 7 U.S.C. 6104(b)(2)) to better reflect current mushroom production and geographic distribution of mushroom growers. This language also allows the development of good agricultural and handling practices for mushrooms.

Sec.1856. Expedited marketing order for hass avocados for grades and standards and other purposes.
This provision authorizes an organization of domestic avocado producers to submit to the Secretary a proposal for a grades and standards marketing order for Hass avocados. Once that proposal is received, the Secretary is required to initiate established procedures under the normal marketing order process for the purpose of determining whether there is sufficient industry support for the proposal submitted by the organization. If the Secretary deems it appropriate to establish a marketing order, the language also requires the Secretary to complete that order within 15 months.

Subtitle G—Risk Management
Section 1901. Definition of Organic Crop.
This section amends Section 502 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1502). It defines organic crops for the purposes of the Federal crop insurance program.
Section 1902. General Powers.
This section amends Section 506 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1506). Subsection (a)(1) clarifies that the provision added in the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (Section 508(j)(2)(A), which allows farmers to sue the Corporation over a denied claim only in the U.S. District Court for the district where the insured farm is located, takes precedent over the more general provision in Section 506(d).
Subsection (a)(2) strikes subsection (n) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, in order to clarify that it is superseded by Section 515(h) added in the Agricultural Risk Protection
Act which specifically establishes sanctions for producers, agents, and loss adjusters for program noncompliance and fraud.